The actor behind the Jedi Padawan talks to StarWars.com about Devon’s journey.
While Gideon Adlon’s character Devon Izara in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is a Twi’lek Jedi, just like many human teenagers she’s filled with angst and other conflicted feelings.
“She wants to protect Rylee, Lawson, Daki, herself,” Adlon tells StarWars.com. “She wants to protect Maul. And she wants to kill everyone. That’s how you feel as a teenage girl.”
Adlon remembers being frightened of Darth Maul as a child the first time she watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with her dad. Years later, Adlon now plays a young Jedi Padawan who attracts the attention of the infamous and terrifying dark sider as he rebuilds his own empire in the underworld.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses the first 10 episodes, all of Season 1 including the finale, for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord.
“I think the core conflict in Season 1 for Devon is figuring out why someone so dark wants her [as an ally],” Adlon says. “She’s never used her power in the way Maul is trying to show her.”
Beginning the journey
The character of Devon made sense to Adlon from the moment she started reading scripts for the series, with all episodes from Season 1 now streaming on Disney+ and Season 2 already in the works. “I see a lot of myself in her,” says Adlon. “I’ve gone through a very transitional phase in my life recently and so has Devon in the show. And we kind of moved through it together. The fire that starts to come out of her and the anger and love and fear are all things that I’ve felt trying to fight my own battles.”
As well as being excited about becoming a part of the Star Wars galaxy, Adlon was drawn to the concept art of Devon. “She’s so pretty. I can’t believe that this is who I get to play. Her lekku are beautiful, her color is great,” Adlon says. And hopefully before long, she’ll begin to meet cosplayers who are also enamored with the character. “I can’t wait to see all the people dressing up as her!”
It was important to Adlon to portray Devon as a strong young woman. “She’s not shy,” notes Adlon. “She’s not afraid to kick ass – physically and verbally.”
At the start of the series, Devon is struggling to survive with her Master Eeko-Dio Daki on the bustling streets of Janix. From the first episode Devon is breaking boundaries, stealing food against Daki’s wishes, which Adlon notes shows a bit of darkness to her character. “She’s at a point in her life where she’s very confused about right and wrong,” Adlon says. “She is a Jedi, but the world she’s living in is unfair. So it really confuses her.”
In the studio
Adlon recorded some episodes alongside series co-star Sam Witwer, who has voiced Maul since Star Wars: The Clone Wars. “Sam is great to have around because he knows absolutely everything about Star Wars and Maul,” says Adlon. “I mean, he is Maul. It’s been a total joy working with him and just watching him perform is crazy.”
The pair often talked about Devon and her past with the head writer of Maul – Shadow Lord, Matthew Michnovetz, during their time in the studio. “We’re in a studio but it feels very cinematic,” remembers Adlon. “It feels like we’re doing something on camera because of how intense the work has been. The emotions are crazy.”
During fight sequences, “everyone is moving around,” adds Adlon, recording the ‘effort’ sounds to match their characters in action sequences. It can be just as intense as on-camera work, she reveals. “We’ll try and keep the yelling to the end so I don’t lose my voice completely. But I love it,” Adlon says. “You really can just let it all out with Star Wars screams. It’s very feral.”
Finding her place
In Maul – Shadow Lord, Devon finds herself in a seemingly impossible situation. Trained since she was a young child to become a Jedi, she has yet to become a full-fledged Jedi Knight. In the series, set a few years into Emperor Palpatine’s reign, the fall of the Republic seems to signal that she may never achieve her goal.
Luckily, at the start Devon still has her Jedi Master, Eeko-Dio Daki, by her side. Adlon describes Devon’s relationship with Daki as paternal, “like a father and daughter that work together, a colleague.” While the duo would do anything for the other, they don’t always agree on things. And as the season progresses, Devon becomes increasingly frustrated by her Master’s desire to stay hidden from the Empire and avoid inserting themselves into Captain Brander Lawson’s pursuit of Maul.
Devon first comes face-to-face with Maul when he breaks her out of police custody. “She knows who he is and she doesn’t trust him,” says Adlon. “But at certain points, she sees herself in him in very tiny ways that are scaring her.”
As the season unfolds, Devon increasingly finds herself fighting against both Master Daki’s Jedi tenets and Maul’s attempted teachings in a tug of war between the light and dark sides of the Force, and the moral gray between right and wrong in the age of the Empire, just as Imperial Inquisitors arrive on Janix to capture Maul.
Turning point
While Devon initially pushes back against Maul’s offer to continue her training — the former Sith promises to help her fulfill her true destiny — by the end of the season they are effectively Master and apprentice.
Adlon points to Daki’s death in episode 10 as one of the moments that changes everything for Devon. Losing Daki, “flips a switch and you see her become dark,” says Adlon. “I think that anybody who goes through loss like that, the path they walk on after that brings out new colors.”
When we lose someone we love, anyone is capable of going to the dark side, Adlon notes, crediting the writers of Maul – Shadow Lord for beautifully crafting Devon’s scenes in the season finale. “Grief changes a person. The path you go forward on will always be different because you are different,” says Adlon.
And while Adlon thinks Devon sees a bit of herself in Maul, she is still working through some conflicted feelings after losing Daki as the season comes to a close. “Devon related to Maul in a way that she wasn’t able to relate to Daki or people in the Jedi Order. Even though they never say it, she does find a father figure in Maul,” Adlon says. “It’s not love. It’s something I’m trying to figure out with her. And I will.”
In Maul – Shadow Lord, Devon teaming up with Maul felt inevitable for the actor portraying her. “It’s something that she needs to do,” says Adlon, “and also I think she doesn’t have anywhere to go. Even though he is who he is, Maul feels like the safest option for her at this point.”
Now working on Season 2 of the series, Adlon is ready for more Star Wars adventures with Devon. “Everybody on the show is so sweet and just genuinely excited. They’re all nerding out completely about what we’re doing and how different it is and how no one has seen anything like this in the universe yet,” Adlon says. “No matter how old you are, or where you are in the world, it makes you feel emotional. Star Wars is special.”
The age of Maul has begun. All episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now streaming only on Disney+.
